Heavyhanded
by Jemu Nekketsu
Summary: A post-POD Nadesico/In Nomine cross. R&R please.


Heavy-Handed  
A Nadesico fanfic by Jemu Nekketsu  
  
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Nadesico. Don't sue, 'kay? As for the others, well, I'm a wide reader, watcher, and gamer. The weird nouns come form In Nomine, a kick-ass RPG that isn't mine either.  
  
Prologue  
"So sad."  
"Yes."  
"So much pain."  
"Yes."  
"So much confusion. I hate confusion."  
"I know."  
"I'm going to help him out, St. Yves."  
There is a short pause, then the sound of a heavy volume being placed on a wooden table can be heard. There is a rustling of paper, which stops rather quickly. "If that is what you want. Try not to hurt more people in your eagerness to help, though."  
"If you were referring to the one about that young man of mixed heritage, I'm not sorry for it. I did what I thought, no, felt was right. The three of them came out well after my meddling, right? Besides, can you imagine what he was like growing up? Instead of playing cops and robbers, he was palying rebels vs. army, with real guns and bullets and God knows what else!"  
"Remember the scond commandment, my little ball of threads."  
"Sorry."  
"Are you sure you want to do this? Helping him out does not necessarily mean that you will be cleared of your discordance."  
"I don't care if I get bogged down so much with discord that if I jumped up, I'd land in hell. He's going to get my help, whether he likes it or not."  
The other voice sighs. Silence reigns for a while, then is broken by a new voice.   
"I worry about him, Yves."  
"Dominic? You were there all along, I suppose? No, don't answer. You probably were."  
"You are not worried about that agent of yours?"  
"Medlel? Of course not. I have full faith in his abilities."  
"It is his fate that concerns me, Yves."  
"Know that you will hear truth when I say this: all will be well. There is no reason to worry."  
"As you say, Word of Fate." With that, Dominic left.  
Silence. It is broken some moments later by Yves, asking himself a disturbing question: "Why do I have the feeling that the Word of Judgement does not believe me?"  
  
Chapter 1  
Space is not the final frontier. It takes too long to cross, and it's highly overrated. It's the Marches of Dreams that deserves that honor. It doesn't take you aeons to get from one dreamer to another. Unfortunately, it's getting into the Marches and navigating which is the real problem.  
Lady Blandine was kind enough to allow me temporary free movement through the Marches. I wish I could have stayed longer in her tower, but duty calls. After all, I wouldn't want to wear out my welcome; it is not in me to take advantage of a person's kindness, no matter what you might hear about us Kyriotates. That's more up a Shedim's alley. While both of our kind do possess people, we Kyriotates are still bound by our code of ethics and our host's morals. Shedim do not claim any sort of control, as they willfully override the functions of their host. And I mean host. While we 'Tates can control a boy and his dog at the same time, we can't make the boy take drugs if he's been raised to avoid them. Shedim, on the other hand, would gleefully take all sorts of substances into the boy's body; or he might take the dog and go on a killing spree, just for the sheer hell of it.  
Fortunately, they could only do one or the other, but not both at the same time.  
Floating in the Marches, I checked with my other manifestation to see if I had detected Mr. Tenkawa's dreams anywhere on heaven's side of the Marches. The answer was a demoralizing no. This meant I had to go cross over the border into hell's side of, and I'm not looking forward to it. Recalling my other Forces, I reformed and took the first step toward the border. At first, the differences were unnoticeable. But as I looked closer, I saw that the roses were redder, almost blood-like, and they didn't have thorns, they had barbs. I sure hope I don't fall into a cactus patch in this part of the Marches. Shaking myself free of such thoughts, I split up again and cautiously began to spread out.  
I recognized him almost instantly. Or rather, his nightmare. After all, how many people dreamt of being used as a lab rat, escaping with a fellow guinea pig (a little girl, I might add), and fighting with a big, red robot that punched through his own robot's chest, reaching into his chest and crushing his heart? And that wasn't all of it. After that ugly mecha fight, he was running away, this time from a couple of women who were brandishing ropes and handcuffs. Can't say I blame him. But on closer inspection, I saw that their faces were not radiating hatred; on the contrary, pity was flowing out from them by the ton. Taking hold of his struggling dream self (he probably thought I was some sort of phantom captor for that lab he escaped from, or a pet of those women that were out to ensnare him) I thanked Lady Blandine for her help and eased my way back into the corporeal world. As a bonus, I snapped him out of his nightmare. He musn't have been too happy about that - what is this guy, a masochist? - for he woke up screaming for someone named Yurika.  
  
Chapter 2  
It was that dream again, Akito thought. No, not a dream, a nightmare, but this time with a twist. It's the first time I encountered that living, invisible net or something. Lapis, he thought, I better see if I've awakened her, though if I were to bet, I'd put my money on her being awake, no thnaks to me. Pulling on a suit, he went out the door in search for his shipmate.  
  
Lapis Lazuli was indeed, awake, sitting on her bed, hugging her knees to herself. It was that dream again, she thought. He needs to go back, she realized, but he doesn't want to. Why, she asked herself. He was the bravest person she'd ever known, stealing themselves out of that Successor facility and going toe to toe with the evil Hokushin. Lapis closed her eyes, forcing thoughts of the evil man away and the fear that flowed through her that signaled his presence.  
It was this way that Akito found her, after passing through the sliding doors. Making his way to her bed and sitting down, he reached for the child, pulling her to his chest. Wordlessly, she wrapped her small arms around him as best as she can, and let her tears dampen his suit. With one arm holding her and the other hand stroking her pale, pink hair - pink, not purple, he thought - he whispered "It was just a dream. It wasn't real. It didn't mean anything."  
With her head still on his chest, refusing to look up, Lapis shook her head. You're lying, she wanted to say. It wasn't just any dream, and it does mean something. A lot of things. But she said nothing, content to just be held close by another living being, by another living being who cared for her, even just a little, and not by someone just concerned with her well-being and health.  
  
"Liar, liar, ass on fire." The little girl - Lapis - was right. I'd bet my Servitor skills that she was no ordinary little girl, if her coloring was any indication. I've heard rumors and murmurs about her kind before, but never had seen the results of such mockery of God before. Man-made children! Grown not in a womb, but in glassful of man-made liquids! And she, she was created to bring forth Armageddon on a single, sad, hateful man's word?!  
Unthinkable! Yet here was another one of them, and suddenly, I don't know what to think anymore. I feel almost as confused as this young man I was silently hiding in. Which was probably why I didn't notice the celestial presence manifest behind me.  
"Something wrong, Medlel?" the presence asked.  
I was surprised to hear the words spoken in the Angelic tongue. The diction, and the concern told me who it was, and I greeted him in the same way. "Cestiel. What are you doing here?"  
"I sensed your confusion, my friend. Or was it your host's? Honestly, you 'Tates of Yves are the only ones to give me tons of headaches."  
"Sorry, I didn't asked to be born this way."  
"No, but you could have stayed under a different Superior. Maybe, hmm, St. Michael?"  
"Couldn't make the grade. Said I moved too slow, and thought too slow to be in the War Department."  
"His words?" asked the Cherubim.  
"Out of the old warhorse's mouth. Of course I backed down."  
Cestiel sighed. "OK, what do we have here?"  
"A situation of which I have complete control."  
"I wasn't doubting your abilities, friend." I felt a little embarassed. Cherubim call so few people friends, and technically, Kyriotates aren't people. "I meant to ask, who's this and why are you helping him."  
"Oh. This is Mr. Akito Tenkawa. He's Japanese, I think, and was a good cook before something awful happened to him. Now he's this mysterious vigilante known all over the Solar System as the 'Prince Of Darkness.'"  
"Prince Of... hey, sounds like one of the Lightbringer's nicknames. Prince of Darkness, huh?"  
"Said to be an absolute terror in the field. My guess is he's pouring all his anguish, rage, and pain into fighting. Keeps thinking, oddly enough, that he's alone in the universe when he still has a wife and daughter in the background somewhere." I waited for the reaction in the Cherubim's face. I wasn't disapointed.  
"Why the dirty little scumbag! Can I Smite him, please? It's nothing personal, oh, what am I saying, it is personal! I just can't stand the thought of someone abandoning people who love them and care for them and-"  
"Which is why I can't let you Smite him, even though I feel the same way about people who abandon those who love them. If you Smite him, what happens to his wife and daughter?"  
"Please, just a finger. Just one, little, eensy, weensy, shining finger?"  
"No. He's already suffered some sort of massive internal damage, what kind I don't know yet, so I'd appreciate not having to Sing back to full health both internal and external injuries." A thought occurred to me. "Maybe she knows."  
"Who?"  
"This little girl that he's pulling off a 'lost in space' with. Lapis Lazuli is her name."  
"That's a blue mineral, right? Semi-precious, and used in jewelry."  
"Wish me luck. I'm trying to jump into both of them and grab all the data I need."  
"You scare me. You sound just like Orc, back in HQ."  
Orc was a fellow Kyriotate, not yet achieving Archangel status yet already protecting the Word of Networks. "What's he doing, other than destroying porn sites online?"  
"Dig this: he's teaching himself Japanese by playing video games and watching all those shows with big robots, corny explosions, and shy pilots. If it's not those shows, it's something equally, um, indescribable."  
Knowing Orc, he had probably learned Japanese after the first game and second dozen episodes of any show. "I see."  
"Of course, some of those shows I object to. Some show called Angelic Sanctuary or somesuch is just so... rrrrr.... I get steamed just thinking about it. "  
"Gives us a bad name, right?"  
"And that Evangelization show or whatever... WE'RE THE BAD GUYS?!!"  
I blocked Cestiel's ranting from my awareness and hopped into Lapis Lazuli's consiousness. I dared do this, because she probably won't tell Akito, and even if she did, he'd probably dismiss it. As it was, it was a fun ride, kind of like a long, convouluted slide into a sparkling ocean.   
Only I remembered that I couldn't swim.  
  
Chapter 3  
"Great. Now I have both of them under my thrall. Hahahahahaha!"  
Cestiel sighed. "Medlel, we're the good guys, remember?"  
"Oh, right. Thanks for reminding me."  
"Just doing my job, friend. So, do they know that they've been 'invaded'?"  
"I'm pretty sure Lapis does. As for Akito, he'll justfind himself marching to a different beat one of these days. For now, I'll just let them function normally."  
  
Lapis Lazuli knew something was wrong. She usually didn't hear voices in her head, except her own and Akito's. This time though, it was as if a another presence was in her mind, intently observing what she was doing and thinking. She didn't like it one bit.  
YOU COULD TRY TALKING TO ME, YOU KNOW. I'M NOT MUTE. AND I'M SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE I'M CAUSING YOU, BUT IT CAN'T BE HELPED.  
Lapis was shocked. It CAN read her thoughts!  
WELL OF COURSE, DEAR GIRL. I'M NOT AN ANGEL FOR NOTHING, YOU KNOW!  
"Tenshi?" Lapis said out loud.  
"Huh? What is it, Lapis?" Akito inquired, turning away from the window to face her.  
"Akito, what is an 'angel'?"  
Akito gave a sharp bark of laughter. Of all the things to ask, and of all the people to ask... "Angel, huh? Didn't they run bundles of lexicons and dictionaries through your brain while you were being groomed to be a living computer?" Silence was his answer. "Ah, an angel is supposed to be a being capable of pulling of impossible stuff. For example, like preventing a Boson Jump without having access to the Martian Artifact. When stuff like that happen, it's called a miracle and angels are usually blamed for it."  
"So, what do they look like?"  
"What do they look like?," Akito echoed. I wonder what brought out all these questions, he thought. "Well, they're usually portrayed as handsome and beautiful humans with wings, or maybe cute little winged babies."   
  
I knew Cestiel would take exception to Akito's remark.  
"Why the little... I wonder what he'd say angels look like if I materialize right here, right now. I'll show him 'cute'!"  
"Now, now, Cestiel, no need to flare up, he just doesn't know any better. Would you rather be described as a white, 40-meter tall monster with eyebeams and razor arms?"  
"Anything is better than a baby with wings, Medlel! Well, except maybe a mass of arms, legs, mouths, and eyes floating about in a swirling cloud."  
"If that was supposed to be an insult, Cestiel, it fell way short of its mark. Go think of more creative ones, Diaper Boy."  
"Diaper boy!"  
  
"Oh," Lapis said. She lapsed into silence after that.  
Akito was doing some thinking of his own. It was the first time she questioned me at length about something, and it wasn't about battle tactics or the ship, he thought. "Is that all?" Akito asked.  
"Yes. Thank you for answering my questions."  
Akito could tell that the girl wished to say something more, yet she seemed ashamed. He never was one to beat around the bush, except five years ago, but- "Out with it, Lapis. You can say anything you want."  
Was it his imagination, or did he actually see the little fairy blush? She even blushes like Ruri when she was her age, he thought.  
"Akito seems too informal to call someone who has saved my life lots of times. And Tenkawa-san is so formal, considering you're my caretaker and guardian."  
Akito was surprised to hear this, coming from Lapis. Who knew that such thoughts ran through that bright little head of hers? Certainly not him. Suddenly, Akito wanted to hear more.  
Lapis was tongue-tied. She shouldn't have said those things, but something made her do it. No, not something: someone.  
HEY, DON'T LOOK AT ME, KID. I'M JUST TAKING A REST HERE.  
"True," she thought, "but if you weren't here in my head, looking at everything I think of, I probably wouldn't have said such things."  
WRONG. I COULD HAVE JUST PLANTED MY BEHIND HERE, AND YOU COULD HAVE JUST GONE ON NORMALLY, WITHOUT FEELING THE NEED TO POUR OUT YOUR HEART TO HIM. FACE IT, CHILD, YOU WANTED TO HAVE THIS TALK. I'M JUST HERE TO WATCH.  
"Lapis?" Akito's voice cut through their mental conversation.  
"Yes?"  
"Go on. If you don't want to call me Akito or Mr. Tenkawa, what would you like to call me, then?"  
"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind my calling you-"  
Lapis was about to say onii-san, but Medlel interfered. Like a student at the chalkboard, he erased the word and mischievously replaced it with 'dearest.' Young and inexperienced as she was, Lapis knew that it wouldn't do to call him that. She tried to say, to look for another word, but somehow, her thoughts wouldn't cooperate.  
"D- d- d-" she stammered.  
"Yes, Lapis?" Akito asked. I wonder what she wants to call me, he thought. Starts with a 'D' sound, eh?  
"Stop it!" she thought angrily. To no avail, whenever she tried to look for a substitute to that word 'dearest', Medlel kept erasing it. "Please," she thought again, "I don't want that word."  
Medlel finally relented. FINE. CHOOSE, THEN: A) DAD, B) DEMON, C) DIRT, D) DOG, OR E) DUMB-ASS. I THINK HE'S ALL THOSE, PERSONALLY, ESPECIALLY CHOICES B, C, D, AND E.  
"Daddy." Lapis Lazuli blushed, stared at her feet, and closed her eyes.  
Akito couldn't believe his ears. "Daddy?" Him, a father? If she was ten, he thought, and my natural child, it means I had her mother when I was... sixteen! "Lapis, did I hear you correctly? Did you just say you wanted to call me your father?"  
Still not looking at him, she nodded. She then replied "It's alright. If you don't want me to. You can forget we had this conversation, and-"  
Striding across the floor to the command chair, he lifted her up and crushed her to him. "Oh, Lapis, I don't mind if you called me dad." It was true, he realized. He waited for the moment of heartache to arrive, to crush him with the memory that he had left a wife and a daughter and had no business having another one, but it did not come. "In fact," he continued, still holding her, "I wouldn't mind being your father. It would be my honor, to have a daughter as smart and as beautiful as you."  
  
  
Chapter 4  
Cestiel blinked away a tear and sniffed. I did the same. And let me tell you, when you have an unbelievable amount of eyes and noses floating in and out of existence, that is one amazing stunt to do. Sadly, I haven't perfected it yet.  
ARE YOU HAPPY NOW, LITTLE GIRL? I sent unnecessarily. It was obvious that she was, but she needed to practice smiling more often. Come to think of it, Tenkawa was out of practice too. All he usually gave now was a wry, cynical grin. "I'm going to change that, wait and see."  
Cestiel looked at me then. "What are you up to now?"  
"I've decided, as a reward for not crushing the little one's heart - there's still hope for the jerk, after all - I'll give him something to smile about."  
"You're going to reunite him with his wife and other child," Cestiel snapped his fingers, "Just like that?"  
"Nope. I haven't practiced this Boson Jumping stuff. Might end up in more crap than before. Besides, HQ has sent a team to work on the wife and daughter. I'll let Mrs. T. do the Jumping."  
"Really? Who's on her case, eh?"  
"This Calabim-turned-Ofanim named Sol. Used to be part of Belial's band. And this newly-converted daughter of Lilith called Ditzy."  
"Ditzy? Oh, you mean Dizzy."  
"You know her?" I asked, curious.  
"I know of her. Gives out favors for free if it concerned saving animals and plants. Hell didn't like the way she operated, and sent out a strike squad to 're-educate' her. Heard it was composed of more Daughters and some supernatural flunkies that owed them favors."  
"So what happened?" I asked, really interested now. Tenkawa could wait. This was hot gossip, um, late-breaking news!  
Cestiel, if he noticed my rapt attention, didn't give a clue, bless him. "Just as she prepared to make her final stand, dying to prevent a bunch of trees with near-miraculous medical potential from getting cleared out, this huge wall of fire roars out of nowhere and incinerates the goons. Every single one of that dirty dozen. The Daughters, Dizzy included, were surprised, and were even more surprised when Dizzy's savior jumped down from a tree. I'll bet you'll never guess who it was."  
"Who? Come on, Cestiel."  
"It was that hot-headed, loose cannon of a renegade Calabite, wanted on both sides: Sol, AKA Bad-ass Sol. Word has it that he turned mercenary on the day he was created, which suited Belial fine, so long as he torched a lot of stuff. What wasn't fine was his torching anybody he damn well pleased, Celestial, Infernal, or mortal. For a price, you could point and shoot him. I don't need to tell you how that piece of news was taken bby both heaven and hell."   
Cestiel paused and took a breath. Not that he needed it, but I figured he deserved a breather.  
"What was he doing, toasting a bunch of his brothers and facing down a pack of Lilith's kinky little daughters? Not that he'd have difficulty, if he took out those flunkies as you said."  
"I heard from a good friend that St. Marcus' pool of sharks approached him with a contract to let by-gones be by-gones if he could deliver them Dizzy. Sol told them to stuff their contract where the sun don't shine, and said jokingly that he'd do baby-sitting service for heaven only if he'd be given total immunity from heavenly prosecution and hell-bought bounty hunters. Marcus' pool discussed it, and on the spot they altered the contract! Well, Sol saw the fine print "start from square one and still do fire-related stuff" and snapped the contract up, quicker than you could say 'helfire'."  
"You said that he's now turned coats?"  
"You're getting ahead of my story. So he wastes them goons and takes Dizzy over his shoulder and started walking to the extraction point, but the Lilim decide to stop him. So he offers them this deal, and I quote: 'I could give you a burning f*ck to hell, and leave you to suffer from your bosses, or you could get lost, and lose just face' unquote."  
"Put that way how could anyone refuse?"  
"And no one said Lilim were dumb. Well, maybe one of them, but you know what I mean, right?"  
"Yeah. So what happened? How did Sol Bad-Ass get recruited? I thought for one that he was rather clever."  
"Um, shouldn't you be paying attention to Tenkawa now?"  
"He can wait. I can't."  
"Where was I? Oh, yes. Well, the Lilim didn't want to get toasted, so they vanished from Sol and his firesword. Sol then met up with St. Marcus' negotiators and handed him what they wanted. He was asking them to keep their end of the deal, when suddenly, a hot wind blew and Gabriel-"  
"She who was at the founding of two of today's most controversial religions?" I interrupted.  
"The very same. I see you didn't snooze during history class."  
"She is the Keeper of the Word of Fire, right?"  
"Correction: she IS the Word of Fire."  
"Shit. I feel sorry for Sol."  
"Yeah. Anyway, she takes Sol by the neck and says to no one in particular 'Your will be done.' And Sol, he just gets consumed in a cloud of flame."  
"I don't believe it. Sol, converted by Gabriel herself? That must have been a pain."  
"And he gets stripped of his Flaws, as well as some of his Forces, and ends up just a little weaker than your average Ofanite but still able to look after Dizzy, who by the way is his permanent baby-sitting job. And they lived happily ever after. By the way, Dizzy is under Lady Novalis."  
"That must be some punishment. Pyro-boy guarding Flower-power girl."  
"Actually, Dizzy was just 'adopted' by Lady Novalis. She doesn't need anymore power than what she had, because she wasn't stripped of anything."  
We fell silent for a while, just watching the two humans sitting in the command chair.  
"I've put this off long enough, right Cestiel?"  
  
Chapter 5  
Reward time, I guess, for Mr. Tenkawa. Consulting his mind for his deepest, darkest desires, I found out what he really wanted most of all in his after 'happy' life. I also put out the doubts that sprang into his mind about this arrangement working or not. It will work. It had to, just had to. Right?  
I told both of them to go to sleep. Subconciously, of course, and when they had made their separate ways to their beds, my control assuring them of a relaxing, if not dreamless, sleep, I got down to the dirty work of Singing quietly.  
I first eased out of Lapis Lazuli's head; something this big I haven't tried before, so I wanted to be full strength while doing it. Cestiel noticed the change and looked askance at me. I just winked a few eyes and focused. Then the words came out: "Watashi ni kaeri nasai, kioku wo tadori, yasashita yume no minamoto e; moichi do hoshi ni hikare, umareru tame ni!"  
  
Akito knew he was dreaming. And it was a nice one, for a change. He was serving noodles from a wheeled stand to a group of schoolchildren, and having the time of his life. He was surrounded by the sounds of the children exclaiming how good it was, the sight of other people in the park enjoying the early afternoon wind, the sheer goodness of it all.  
  
Akito shifted in bed, turning onto his stomach. He sighed.  
  
Suddenly, the gentle breeze intensified, and blew away the bright, multicolored umbrella right off the stand. Laughing, some of the boys chased after it and retrieved it for him. As a reward, he added another okinomiyaki slice into their bowls. Being taught well in school, the boys thanked him.  
"Thank you for helping me with my groceries, Miss. And you as well, nee-san."  
Turning around, he looked at who his daughter - now, didn't that sound so nice? - was talking to, and his eyes fell on a young, blue-eyed, blue-haired woman and her charge, a rather pale teenager with eyes of gold. Both were carrying brown paper sacks, and Lapis was struggling with a smaller one.  
"Here, let me take those." After placing the used bowls into the wash, he headed for the three. "My name is Akito, and I would like to thank you for helping my daughter. I'm sorry you had to help, though. If I only knew that she couldn't handle all the packages-"  
"Don't be silly! You know very well that it wouldn't do to leave her behind the stove," said the woman. "Though she might cook better than me, it isn't smart to leave an inexperienced hand without supervision, right?"  
she was smiling when she said this last, her musical voice softening the rebuke in her words. "By the way, I'm Yurika and this is Ruri. We live above the shop where little Lapis here bought your stuff."  
Akito blushed, embarassed. "Um, here, let me make it up to you two. Lapis, give me the noodles, ah, good. Just a minute, you three. This is going to be fantastic!" he said, sniffing the contents of the package he held. The scent of cuttlefish filled his nostrils, making him declare "Three seafood bowls, coming up!"  
"Oh, you don't have to do that for Mother and me, Akito-san."  
Mother? Turning around, he took a good look at the pair. They don't look like mother and daughter, Akito thought, but then again, Lapis and I don't resemble each other. What was surprising was the similarity in appearance between Lapis and Ruri. Both were pale, had gold eyes, and a quiet, reserved nature. A far cry from the tall, statuesque figure of Yurika. Now, that was a fine form for a woman, if a man didn't mind a little top-heaviness.   
Mother and daughter noticed his scrutiny, and showed Akito totally different reactions. Ruri turned red, very noticeable given her coloring and suddenly found her toes very interesting, peeking out from her sandals. Yurika, meanwhile, returned his scrutiny, noting his compact yet tall physique, and at the tattoo on his hand. Her eyes caught his, and he smiled.  
"I was in the military once," he heard himself say. She smiled, and he suddenly felt as if, as if-  
"Dad, our noodles are ready. I think."  
"What? Oh, yes. Here they come!" ducking and reaching into the cart, thankful for the excuse to hide his face (which he was sure was burning bright scarlet), and setting three bowls on the counter top. He soon busied himself with filling the three bowls and serving it to the women. "Eat up! Don't be shy about seconds!"  
"You weren't joking about the seconds part, were you?" Yurika teased. "Neither Ruri nor I can stand my cooking, so we grab every opportunity to get a free, edible meal."  
"How do you know my dad's cooking isn't poisonous?" Lapis asked, grinning.  
"Well, you were selling noodles to those kids earlier, right?" Yurika replied.  
"What if dad's poison is the delayed sort? Who knows, maybe come tomorrow, they'd be announced dead in the news."  
"Now, now, Lapis, that's not nice."  
"I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me. But I did notice that you seem to have slowed down in demolishing your noodles."  
"And you haven't. A daughter wouldn't be so trusting to eat her own father's cooking unless she knows it's safe. The fact that you're still alive is testament to that," Ruri retorted.  
"But what if-"  
"Lapis, finish your food." It wasn't a request.  
"Yes, dad."  
  
I left him alone. Man, those were some of the toughest wounds I had ever seen. "All will be well in the morning. It's why they invented it. I have set uou on the path of healing. It remains to you to see it to the end."  
"Really, now? Do you mean that you'll finally go back to heaven and leave this mortal to figure out his own affairs?" Cestiel asked.  
"What do you think?" I replied.  
  
Chapter 6  
The body had been healed. Time for the heart and mind, although I have hopes of an easy job. After all, a guy who just adopted a daughter deep in space, with all that baggage and garbage inside him is something else, right? Of course, unkind observers might say that I had something to do with that, and well, that's their observation. And being able to totally control an individual's thoughts and to some extent his emotions, it would have been so easy to do.  
  
Which I did of course.  
  
So here I was, inhabiting this rejuvenated person, sort of piggy-backing to earth. Those obnoxious aliens that had made their presence known at the edge of the Solar System just provided the perfect excuse for Akito to come running back, the messenger of doom and gloom. Not that I wanted him to continue life as such, but some jobs a paerson is just stuck with. Progress is slow, though; we were moving at a crawl, which was fine because it meant we wouldn't be detected. It isn't so fine when we're just ahead of the aliens by a month or so. Not great at all. Cestiel does check in from time to time, to see if I had corrupted my host.  
"I checked with my sources. These aliens are part of the plan."  
"Yeah? And in the War? Are they part of that too?"  
"You know how it is to ask questions from those three, Medlel. It nearly cost me an arm and a leg."   
We were speaking in Angel-speak, of course. We might as well, since Cestiel had materialized on board in his sun-tanned, surfer-attired glory, much to the initial shock of the two humans. I took care of that though.  
Akito spoke up. "How much time do we have?" he asked of me, aloud.  
But it was Lapis who answered. "We are approximately 32 days ahead of their scouting fleet. No doubt more will come even if these scouts are destroyed."  
"We could do a Boson Jump; the asteroids would provide enough visual cover for the event," Akito volunteered.  
I quickly answered, "No."  
"Why not?"  
"Because you'll miss them."  
"Who? What are you-?"  
A white light blinded all of us, even though Cestiel and I were expecting it. When it cleared, Yurika and Ruri were standing on the bridge as well. They were surprised at first, as if they weren't sure that something would work. Their gasps jerked Cestiel into action; they couldn't see Akito and Lapis yet, because I had sung a Song of Shields a few minutes ago. Grinning, Cestiel took a look at his attire, and decided to do something flashy. A few seconds later, he was in his Message Delivery Uniform #1, which was made up of loose, flowing white robes, sash, bare feet, and a halo of light not just above his head, but around his torso. He was most impressive.  
"Do not be afraid. Blessed are you among women, both of you," he said in his deep, resonant tones.   
"Are we dead?" Yurika asked in a whisper.  
"I don't think so. Excuse me, are you an angel, sir?" Ruri asked my friend, who was smiling benignly at them.  
"Yes, I am an angel, Ruri." He smiled grew more radiant; any more, and I was sure he'd blind himself.  
"Oh, we really are dead!" Yurika cried out. At this point, I let the Song of Shields end and made Akito feel a nudge in his ribs. "Break a leg, you two," I told both of them in their minds, and Akito opened his mouth to speak.  
"If we really are dead, do I have to introduce you to our new daughter, Yurika?" I nearly burst into tears. Alright, I'm a sucker for sweet lines. Everyone, even angels, had flaws, right? Then Lapis spoke up as well.  
"Hello. My name is Lapis Lazuli. Are you my new mama and onee-chan that papa was talking about with me?"  
Now that really made me gush. Such a cheesy, beautiful line! Perfection CAN be found under the gates of heaven. I forced myself to stop and watch the next few scenes. Yurika and Ruri turned toward the sound of Akito's voice, and wouldn't you know it, Yurika fainted. She would have hit the deck, had it not been for Akito's reflexes. Now I know why he puts up with that black costume of his: it makes him look dashing, and cool, and it goes well with a UE Spacy uniform.  
"Wink out already, Cestiel."  
"Not on your life, buddy. This is sheer plaesure to watch."  
"Yeah, I know what you feel," I returned, watching the two gold-eyed young ones kneel beside the man each one of them thought of as her father. "Zutto sagashiteta konna emo-shon...," I sang to myself.  
  
I didn't know how long we stood watching the scene, Cestiel and I, but I swear that we could have gone on forever and not minded in the least.  
Then Akito stood up, told the girls to get to know each other by the time he came back. He then headed out the door, and the two little cuties just looked at each other. Slowly, Lapis reached out a hand, and Ruri took it in hers. Their skin suddenly lit up, as if illuminated by hundreds of tiny silver lights underneath.  
"I don't wanna miss this!," I cried out. I made my way to do a simultaneous entry, but was held in place by Cestiel's hand on my neck. Now, an amorphous cloud of gas doesn't have a neck, and shouldn't be restrained by an angelic hand, but there you have it. "What?" I asked my friend.  
"That is a private moment for them alone, Medlel. Leave them be, as I intend to. In fact, why don't we check on the adults? Make sure if she is okay? I didn't do that, right?" Cestiel replied.  
"I'm afraid we can't do that as well, good friend."  
"Why ever not?" he asked, puzzled.  
"Because if I know humans, they could only be doing one thing right now, something long enough for these girls to get to know each other inside and out."  
"And that would be...?"  
"You don't know?"  
"I don't usually get assigned to check up on humans, it's other Celestials that I am rather more familiar with."  
"Let me spell it out for you: P-R-O-C-R-E-A-T-I-O-N!"  
"Procre... oh. Ooooohhhhh! I- Um, I meant to ask, is that normal? For humans, I mean?"  
"Here. Tell me how you feel, eh? You're tracking down this rogue 'Tate all over the streets of a metropolis for over a week. Rather, his multitude of hosts. And it had to be one of Jordi's who got a little to zealous with his "Protect nature" mission. And you've been chasing roaches all week long, herding htem until you can reassemble the sucker and take him back for internal affairs to pick on. How would you feel?"  
"Like hell." It was a very heartfelt, honest answer.  
"And once you've dropped him off, the haven keeper tells you that you can hang around for a while if you help feed the birds. How would you feel, then? Or even better, the keeper tells you that he's got an express ride back up, all ready to go?"  
"Super! Ecstatic! Joyous! Delirious! I won't be able to contain it, I must spread this joy and tell others of it!" Cestiel fairly sang.  
I grinned with a few mouths. Cestiel did always have a strong imagination, and tended to get carried away at times. But he's a good guy, and we're angels, right?  
"You could say that all that overflowing emotion was too much for Akito to contain and he had to let his wife know how he felt. Your hypothetical case was 7 days in the big, bad city. His life five years ago was no smells, no tastes, no security, no one to love him."  
"I'd die if that happened to me."  
"He didn't, he survived, but did not thrive. That was my purpose coming here: to put this hardy sapling back into good soil and sunlight."  
"You're not the only one doing some planting right now, if your words are true," said Cestiel, grinning.   
I trained all my eyes at him, surprised. "Was that earthy human humor I heard you just spit out? Maybe there's hope for you after all!"  
"Me? Never! You must be- hey, look, they stopped glowing!"  
"They have? Ouch! I can't move my eyes! What are they doing now?"  
"They're hugging tight, and crying as they cling to each other."  
"I'd cry too, but it might make my situation worse."  
Cestiel just looked at me and laughed. 


End file.
